Walking along today, got accosted by Paralympics NZ who are fundraising, trying to sell supporter’s packs. Worthwhile enough cause I thought, government funding is minimal, but I didn’t want to spend the minimum $10 on a supporter’s pack. Happy enough to just give them $5 cash though.

The guy then proceeds to tell me that they are not accepting ‘small’ amounts, the minimum donation is $10. End-result; they didn’t get a cent from me.

Quite frankly Paralympics NZ, competition for the charity dollar is tight. Beggars shouldn’t be choosers. You are now $5 poorer than you would have been did you not have this, to me rather baffling, policy in place.

The simple answer is because the person you talk to is not an employee or volunteer of the charity - they work for professional "chugger" (charity mugger) companies, who are paid on average 95% of the donations for the first year to collect money. They won't accept $20 one offs because that is literally less than the charity is being charged to collect your donation - you would actually be costing the charity (in other words they're not $5 poorer because they didn't accept your $20 one off donation, they're $50 richer).

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